NPC President Sylvia Smith presented Mildred Heath of Nebraska an honorary Club membership on Wednesday before Health was recognized as America’s oldest worker for 2008.

Heath has been in the newspaper biz for 85 years. She may be the longest-working Club member. When she began working at her hometown newspaper at age 15, she taught herself to operate a Linotype – a machine that turned hot lead into lines of type for the printing press.

“I got really good at it,” she sa id , “but the lead was really hot.” She still carries burn marks from those early days.